WellCare Today tackles medication adherence with HealthAssist

MORRISTOWN, N.J. A company that develops applications for smartphones has launched a new one that it hopes will help tackle a problem that costs the country billions of dollars a year.

WellCare Today announced Tuesday the launch of HealthAssist, an application for medication adherence and health management available for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. The application is available for free from Apple’s app store.

The program includes features such as a scheduled text reminder for each medication a user takes, refill alerts, news alerts and a storage system for electronic medical records.

Medication non-adherence costs the U.S. economy $100 billion and claims 125,000 a year, and according to the New England Healthcare Institute, one-third to half of all patients don’t take their medications properly.